Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy
by WizMonCruWil
Summary: This story chronicles the beginning of Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy's relationship, insomuch as getting their families used to the idea. Along the way, Rose is given a startling revelation about her family's history with the Malfoys - and must reconcile herself with it. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1: Dating the Devil's Spawn

**Chapter 1: Dating the Devil's Spawn**

It was Spring Break for the Weasley/Potter clan. The Hogwarts-aged kids were all back from school for a week, and the whole family was spending some quality time at the Burrow.

One morning, Rose Weasley, Ron and Hermione's 15-year-old daughter, came down late for breakfast. Ron noticed right away that she seemed nervous.

"Mummy, Daddy, everyone," she announced. "There's something I need to tell you." The rest of the family stood at silent attention. Rose took a deep breath.

"I'm dating Scorpius Malfoy."

Ron instantly spluttered out his butterbeer, spraying it all over Harry. This cued the family to devolve into controlled chaos.

"Finally, you plucked up the courage to tell them," Hugo said with relief.

"Yeah, we've only known you were dating him for like 6 months," Albus added. Ron took this opportunity to round on his son and nephew.

"You two knew about this?"

"Duh," said James II, "Rosie made us swear not to tell you. She figured we would be the best at keeping it a secret."

"Wait," called Harry, holding court at the table. Everyone turned, figuring he might offer up something at least constructive, but instead he just asked, "Since when is James good at keeping a secret?"

"Since I threatened to hex and then castrate him if he even let slip one word," Rose responded.

"Rose Weasley! I can't believe you would intimidate your cousin that way!" scolded Hermione.

" _I_ can't believe you would actually go and date the devil's spawn!" Ron roared, as he got up and made to move towards his daughter. Harry intercepted him, and the two men briefly wrestled with each other.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?"

"Punishing my daughter properly!"

"For what? Going out with someone you don't like?!"

"You mean, someone _we_ don't like. Now, get out of my way, Potter!"

"First of all, she's dating the _son_ of someone we don't like. If you're going to try and rationalize something, at least do it properly. Second of all, she's my goddaughter, and I will uphold my promise to protect her from anyone, even you!"

"Ron! Harry! Stop it this instant!" Hermione snapped. "Remember the last time you both fought like this?" She, of course, was referring to probably the second worst night of her life, when her future husband had abandoned her and her future brother-in-law on their hunt for the Horcruxes.

That stopped Ron. The two men separated and stared at each other before calmly taking their places at the table again. Rose, meanwhile, felt very grateful to her favorite uncle for appearing to take her side, or at least, not automatically take the side of her parents, his best friends, as he did in most other situations.

Silence permeated the room again, until Lily spoke up.

"Um, Rosie, what does this mean? Does this mean if you and Scorpius get married, we'll be related to the Malfoys?"

 _Related?_ thought Ron in horror. _Related?!_

"Rosie, you can't do this me!" Ron screamed.

"Rosie, you can't do this to _me_!" Hermione unexpectedly echoed. Ginny just sat there, laughing.

"Shut it, you," Ron snarled in his sister's direction, but backed off when she brandished her wand at him.

"I will use this, big brother, and don't think I won't!"

"ENOUGH!" Rose suddenly bellowed. The other 25 people in the room stared at her. "Mum, Dad, Hugo, I have arranged for us all to have Easter dinner with Scorpius' family. That's a month from now. You have until then to wrap your brains around my new relationship and get your acts together." And before anyone could protest, she stormed upstairs.

"She's definitely Hermione's daughter," George muttered. Everyone else glared at him.


	2. Chapter 2: Learning the Truth

**Chapter 2: Learning the Truth**

Easter Break came too soon for the clan. But, nobody tried to weasel out of the event, not even Ron.

However, as the Weasleys and Potters (who had agreed to accompany Rose's family as moral support) approached the Malfoy Manor, Rose noticed that her parents were growing increasingly on edge. They had been ever since they had Apparated at their destination, and were even more so now that they were past the black iron front gate. At one point, her mother suddenly keened like she was going to faint.

"Mum!" Rose cried, shocked, but her father and Uncle Harry caught her.

"It's all right, Hermione. We've got you," Harry told her. But his voice was shaky and even he was not trying to hide the obvious fright on his face. And Harry Potter being frightened was a very rare occurrence indeed. Rose had always thought of her uncle as so tough, brave, the Boy Who Lived, the Chosen One who had defied death numerous times. Now, a simple walk up a driveway was leaving him literally quaking in his boots.

Her father, meanwhile, kept rubbing his eyes and holding a hand to his head, like he was trying to shake off a bad memory or something. Little did Rose know at that moment how eerily accurate that guess was.

The two families finally reached the front door. Ginny took the initiative to knock, as she had probably surmised none of the Golden Trio was in a state to do so, or even want to do so. After a moment, a thin woman with black hair opened it. Astoria Malfoy, Scorpius' mother.

"Wonderful. Come on in," was all she said.

Harry, Ron and Hermione looked as though she had announced they were going to be executed; Ginny and Hugo had to guide the three across the threshold. Up a long staircase they climbed, and with each step, Rose was starting to regret more and more that she had brought her family here, especially her mum. The three most important adults in her life were jumping at every sound, their eyes darting frantically about like caged animals. When they approached what looked like the dining room, Hermione cried out.

"No! Not in there! Please, anywhere but there!" Astoria looked at her, confused.

"It's our dining room, Hermione. Where else do you expect us to get acquainted?"

Ron now looked like he wanted to punch Astoria in the nose as he held his wife and began to stroke her hair, even as he was trembling himself. Astoria awkwardly threw open the doors, and the guests had no choice but to follow.

They were in what may have previously been a drawing room. Tapestries hung against black walls, furniture was in the corners, and a dining table stood in the center. The only lighting was enchanted candles floating in mid-air. Rose thought the place looked creepy.

She quickly found her boyfriend and greeted him with a hug, then introduced her family. Harry and Ron shook Draco and Lucius Malfoy's hands stiffly; James, Albus and Hugo did it to be polite. Ginny and Hermione didn't move and in fact glared in the mens' direction.

Dinner was practically thrown on the table to diffuse the awkwardness of it all, but the meal turned out to be no better. Finally, there was a crash as silverware splattered everywhere; Hermione was rocking back and forth, hands over her ears and screaming. "No! Please! Stop! Stop!"

Everyone stood frozen in shock and/or terror, and only Scorpius had the decency to speak up. "Help her, Dad!" But Draco stayed frozen in his chair as if anchored to it, the look on his face clearly demonstrating that he had no idea what to do.

Ron finally jumped out of his place, circled the table, and scooped his wife up in his arms like she was a rag doll. He rounded on the Malfoys, fury blazing in his eyes.

"How could you ask us to come back here like this? Have you no heart? How dare you make us meet here, of all places!"

"We didn't ask you to come. Rose arranged it," Astoria tried to explain patiently.

"Oh, right!" Ron realized and he cackled with derisive laughter as he rounded on his daughter. "You don't have a heart, Rosie! No, you made us come back to the house - the very room - where _they"_ \- and here he pointed a finger at Draco and Lucius - " _tortured your mother!_ "

Lily screamed. Hugo looked like he wanted to cry. Rose looked stunned. "What?" she breathed. Her eyes darted about the room, horrified, then her jaw set in anger as realization dawned.

"That's why you hate Scorpius! Just because of who he is and what his family did to Mum?!"

"Bingo! We have a winner!" Ron shot back sarcastically, the sneer on his face almost disturbing. "But not just what they did to your mum! What they did to _me_! And your uncle!" His expression now crumbled as tears began to fall freely. "What they did to _me_!" he cracked with emotion. "To all of us! Listening to your mum screaming - and there was _nothing, nothing_ I could do about it! That bitch Bellatrix Lestrange left her scarred for life!"

If there was any doubt left about Rose bringing her parents here, it was gone now. Her eyes glistened with tears, and she reached for her father, but he twisted away, sorrowful anger returning.

"No, don't you dare say how sorry you are for me!" he roared. "It's too late for that!"

"What do you expect me to say?!" Rose cried, tears of anger and despair falling now. "How can you ask me to choose between him and you? I wish I was never in this family!" She shoved her father hard and ran from the room, sobbing.

"ROSE! ROSE HERMIONE!" Ron roared, but she did not even look back. His fury escalated as he watched Scorpius follow his daughter, also ignoring his parents' calls. Ron made to go after them both, but Harry intercepted him.

"Don't. You. Dare." the Chosen One growled. "If anyone is going to talk to them, it's me, not you. Take care of Hermione, you understand me?" He turned tail and raced out of the room before Ron could even respond.

"Nice going, you idiot!" Ginny snapped at her brother as he turned back to the chaotic table. Lily and Hugo crying, James and Albus appearing shell-shocked, and the Malfoys refusing to look anyone in the eye. Worst of all was Hermione sobbing into Ron's shirtfront.


	3. Chapter 3: Coming to Terms with the Past

**Chapter 3: Coming to Terms with the Past**

"Rose? Rose? Rose Hermione Weasley, answer me!" Harry called, as he jogged along the grounds of Malfoy Manor. He paused in his search, and in the absence of the sound of his footfalls, cocked his ear and listened. Years of Auror training had enhanced his hearing.

There. Sniffling, but very faint. Coming from behind that bush. Peering around it, Harry found his niece curled up in a ball.

"Rose," he said gently. She jumped, startled, then glowered at him.

"If this was Mum's or Dad's idea, well sorry to disappoint them, but I don't want to see you either."

Harry couldn't stop the smirk. She sounded and looked like her mama so much in that moment, it was scary. Rose, however, noticed and grew more enraged.

"Don't laugh! I don't think it's funny! You lied to me just as much as they did!"

"I did not," Harry replied, still in a measured voice.

"Yes, you did! Keeping information from a person is the same as lying! I learned that from Mummy when I was four. Why didn't you tell me she was tortured by Death Eaters? Don't you think I should have been told that?"

"It was never my place to tell you that. I always knew your parents should be the ones to tell you and Hugo, preferably when you were a lot older. They would have wanted to tell you on their own terms: when and _how_ they wanted to." Here, he gave his niece a pointed look. She turned away, wiping her nose on the back of her sleeve.

"That wasn't my fault. I didn't know that a simple dinner at my boyfriend's house would give you all PTSD. And Scorpius' folks arranged where we would be eating, not me."

Harry sighed. She had certainly outsmarted him there. "You're right. I'm sorry." Rose turned back to him and raised an eyebrow. "For?" She once again looked and sounded like a clone of her mother.

"For saying it was your fault for forcing your parents' hand on how they wanted to tell you about your mother's torture." She nodded, satisfied. Another moment of silence, and then Rose said in a tiny voice, "What exactly did happen here, Uncle Harry?"

Harry looked torn. He didn't want to break his promise of leaving the telling up to Ron and Hermione, but he knew neither of them was currently in a state to do so. He gave a sad smile.

"Tell you what. Why don't I _show_ you what happened?" Rose looked terrified now, but she nodded slowly. Taking the girl by the hand, Harry turned on the spot and Disapparated.

* * *

Once uncle and niece had reached the Potter residence, Harry led Rose to a back closet in the basement. Inside was a Pensieve. Rose gasped. She had only ever seen one in books. Harry turned to her and grinned, as if he had read her thoughts.

"You'd be surprised how well off our families are, Rosie. Your aunt and I have a second one upstairs in our room. So do your parents at your house. _This_ one holds the collective memories of your parents and me. All of our adventures together. Our greatest moments - and our worst ones." He dipped his wand in the liquid and swirled it around. Rose could now make out the shimmery image of the Malfoy's drawing room. She turned fearfully to her uncle. He smiled reassuringly down at her.

"Remember. I'm here with you. If you get too frightened at any point, tell me and we'll leave the memory immediately. Ready?" He held out his hand, and she clasped it. Then they dunked their heads into the Pensieve.

Rose felt herself falling until at last she landed feet first on the Malfoys' drawing room floor. She glanced about. Except for the dining room table and the candles, the room looked identical to the one she knew. Perpendicular to her and Harry was a group of men holding younger versions of her uncle, father and mother. Across from them was a wiry black-haired witch: probably Bellatrix Lestrange. Behind her was a younger Mr. Malfoy, and his parents - Mr. Lucius and his wife. In one corner was a mousy looking little man Rose did not recognize.

"Where did you get that sword?" Bellatrix barked at the men holding Rose's family.

"It was in her bag when we found them. Reckon it's mine now," grumbled the biggest of the men with a sickening, toothy grin. Bellatrix snapped at this, and her wand suddenly became a kind of whip, rope spurting from the tip and strangling the big man's neck. He finally freed himself, dropped the sword to the floor with a clang, and all but one of the men ran out of the house in terror.

Rose looked up at her uncle. "Who are they?" she asked tremulously.

"Snatchers," Harry replied grimly. "They worked as bounty hunters for Voldemort and his followers: rounded up Muggle-borns and other enemies of his regime. That bloke who just got choked was named Scabior - he was caught and sent to Azkaban after the war. Last I heard, he died in a prison riot there." Rose gulped and turned back to the scene. Bellatrix now approached the Golden Trio.

"Where did you get this sword?" she hissed, her voice dangerously low.

"We - we found it," Hermione replied, so quietly that Rose had to strain to hear her.

"LIAR!" Bellatrix screamed. "You were in my fault at Gringotts!" Rose could see some panic in her features now, and she almost smiled in satisfaction. Something about this sword was important if its presence here and not in Bellatrix's vault terrified the Death Eater so much.

Hermione, meanwhile, gave no reply to Bellatrix's accusation. Enraged, Bellatrix pushed Ron and the younger Harry back towards the one man who had not fled the room after her attack.

"Put the boys in the cellar!" she ordered. "I'm going to have a little talk with this one, girl to girl!" She got right in Hermione's face, as Rose's father and uncle were hustled out of the room and down some stairs and out of sight. Ron was yelling something, but Rose could not make it out.

"Where is he taking you?" Rose asked fearfully.

"Fenrir Greyback put me and your father in the manor's cellar. He was a werewolf. Bit Uncle Bill, you know. And Remus Lupin."

"Teddy's dad?" Rose asked, shocked. Harry nodded.

A scream made her turn back to the scene - and she almost fell over. Bellatrix had knocked Hermione to the floor and was lying on top of her, their faces inches from each other. Peering around, Rose saw a glint of silver catch what little light there was in the room. A knife - and Bellatrix was cutting it into Hermione's skin. Hermione violently shook and screeched bloody murder.

"Where did you get it? Where?" Bellatrix hissed, pausing in her sadistic game.

"I-I don't kno-o-ow! I didn't take anything!" Hermione sobbed in pain. Not satisfied with her answer, Bellatrix continued to jam the knife into Hermione's arm, the girl's screams echoing off the walls.

"NOOO! MUMMY!" Rose screamed. She tried to run to Hermione's side, but Harry held her back. "Let me go! That bitch is torturing her! She's killing her! DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH MY MOTHER!" she roared the last at Bellatrix.

"There's nothing we can do, Rose! They can't see or hear us! Come on!" Harry ordered, and before Rose could do anything else, their location changed.

They could still hear Hermione's screams, but they were now on stone steps descending towards a locked, gated door. Through the bars, Rose could see Ron and the younger Harry - along with an old man, a dark-skinned boy and a girl who looked like her Auntie Luna - bathed in the glow of a ball of light. Rose's dad was adding calls of "HERMIONE!" to her mom's screams as he frantically ran around and dug at the walls, trying to find a way out. The younger version of her uncle was trying to shut him up.

"Be quiet, Ron, we have to come up with a plan…"

A sudden CRACK! made the prisoners look up to find a house elf had now suddenly joined their cell.

"DOB-" The young Harry punched Ron in the arm to keep him from shouting. The house-elf, Dobby, explained that he could Apparate in and out of the cellar. The young Harry quickly arranged for him to take Luna, Dean, and Mr. Ollivander ("He was the old wandmaker! His son runs the wand shop now!" Rose exclaimed) to -

"Shell Cottage on the outskirts of Tinworth!" Ron suddenly burst out. "Trust me," he added to younger Harry when he looked back at the red-head.

"Meet me at the top of the stairs in ten seconds!" Dobby ordered, then with another CRACK!, he and his passengers were gone.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" came a shout from upstairs that sounded like Bellatrix. Rose began to tremble.

"Oh no! She's going to catch you and Dad!" she almost sobbed to Uncle Harry.

"No, she's not!" Harry whispered reassuringly to his niece, and Rose was disturbed to see that he was actually smiling. "Watch."

"NO! SEND WORMTAIL! MAKE HIM GO AND CHECK!" someone ordered from above.

Rose was about to ask who Wormtail was, but her answer came when the mousy man she had seen earlier came down the steps and walked right past her and Harry up to the door.

"Stand away from the door! Don't anybody move! I am coming in." _He even sounds like a mouse_ , Rose thought.

He opened the door…and the ball of light that had lit up the cellar unexpectedly went out. Sudden scuffling and muffled cries could be heard. Rose didn't have to think very hard to realize that her father and uncle were putting up a fight for their lives; she could only imagine what was going on in the darkness just beyond. She didn't have to for very long, either, when Harry suddenly hissed "Lumos!" illuminating the passageway.

Rose could now see Ron, the Wormtail guy, and young Harry fully engaged in a desperate struggle on the cellar floor. She saw her father wrestle a pair of wands from the little man's grasp. Young Harry, meanwhile, was holding Wormtail in a death grip, his hand over the mousy man's mouth.

"Wormtail? What's going on down there?" called a voice that seemed to be Scorpius's grandfather, Lucius.

"Nothing!" Ron called back in a pretty good impression of Wormtail's voice. "All fine!"

The real Wormtail struggled vigorously, and in the light of the wand, a silvery object reached up and clasped young Harry's throat. With horror, Rose realized that the silvery object was Wormtail's hand; he was trying to choke her parents' best friend to death.

"You'd really try to kill me?!" the young Harry wheezed. "After what I've done? You owe me, Wormtail!"

It was almost as if these words were an order to the silver hand itself, for it now released young Harry's throat and began to strangle the throat of its owner instead. Young Harry dropped Wormtail's form and crawled back, horrified. His expression matched the one now on Rose's face; she was watching a man essentially strangle himself before her eyes.

"No…"

Wormtail was desperately trying to get air; his face was turning blue, his little eyes darting back and forth in their sockets. At last, they rolled up into his head and he slumped backwards onto the cold stone before giving one final twitch. He was dead.

It was clear from the stunned expressions on Ron and young Harry's faces that they had not intended to kill their captured combatant, probably just knock him out long enough to escape.

"Who gets his wand?" Ron, young Harry, the real Harry and Rose looked back to see Dobby at the top of the stone steps. Harry placed a hand on his niece's shoulder.

"Let's go," he murmured, and they were suddenly back upstairs in the drawing room.

It was eerily quiet now. Bellatrix and the Malfoys were standing off to one side. In the center of the room lay Hermione. Rose could hardly bear to look at her. If she hadn't known her mother had just been tortured, Rose would have thought she looked almost beautiful lying there, as though she may have been sleeping. Only Hermione's glazed over, emotionless eyes and the blood trickling down her arm dispelled this quaint notion. The rise and fall of her chest as she gave short, painful breaths and the presence of her invisible future daughter were all that indicated to the world that she was still alive. Rose peered closer at her mother's bloodied arm. _There's something written there…._ When she saw what, she almost threw up: MUDBLOOD. A horrible wizarding slur had been carved into her mother's skin, visible only by (in a sick poetic way) the very blood that had given her, Rose, life.

"Oh, Mum…" Rose croaked through the hand over her mouth and she began to weep. Her uncle stroked her hair, then gently nudged her.

"Look."

From where they were standing, they had a good view of the stairs that young Harry and Ron had been taken down - stairs where the same two young men now crouched.

"And I think we can let the goblin go now," Bellatrix was saying. She approached Hermione until she towered over her. "The same won't be said for this one," she chirped in a sickeningly calm voice.

"Like hell!" Ron snarled and he moved, young Harry hot on his heels. "Expelliarmus!"

The drawing room devolved into a fierce duel: Bellatrix and the Malfoys versus Harry and Ron. Young Harry knocked Mr. Lucius behind a couch, Greyback was Stunned and thrown into a nearby wall.

" _Drop your wands!_ " Rose turned her attention away from the battle to see Bellatrix holding her mother, the same cursed blade that had tortured her now at her throat. Her father and uncle defiantly stayed frozen.

"No," Rose gasped in terror.

"I said _drop them!_ " Bellatrix repeated, pressing the blade until a trickle of blood appeared on Hermione's neck.

"All right!" young Harry yelled angrily, and the boys threw their weapons down and put their hands up in surrender.

"Good! Draco, pick them up! Lucius, call the Dark Lord! He'll praise us so when he sees we got Harry Potter…" her voice trailed off as a creaking sound made her look up to what Hermione had been forced to stare at.

The chandelier was moving, and at the top was none other than the house-elf Dobby.

A beat, then time and space seemed to slow as the whole glassy mass came crashing to Earth. Bellatrix let out a shriek and pushed Hermione away from her, towards the boys - the Death Eater bitch obviously only cared about saving her own wretched skin.

Amazingly, neither woman was crushed by the falling decoration. Hermione stumbled forward into her future husband's arms. Bellatrix barely managed to keep her balance. In the confusion, the young Harry boldly ran forward and wrested the seized wands from Mr. Malfoy, Scorpius' dad, who barely put up a fight. Glass shards flew everywhere. Scorpius' grandmother seemed to be the only one injured by them, as she was holding a now-bleeding arm, her wand lying at her feet.

"You dirty little monkey!" Bellatrix bawled at Dobby, who was now standing by the prisoners; the goblin had also joined them. "You could have killed me!"

"Not kill! Dobby only meant to maim or seriously injure!" the house-elf clarified, and if it weren't for the dire circumstances, Rose would have laughed out loud.

"Kill him, Cissy!" shrieked Lucius' wife. Dobby snapped his fingers, and Bellatrix's wand flew out of her hands and into his own.

"How dare you defy your masters!" Bellatrix roared.

"Dobby has no master," the elf snapped back defiantly. "Dobby is a free elf, and Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends!"

Time once again seemed to slow. Rose watched as her loved ones began to disappear into space itself as they desperately Disapparated; in the same instance, Bellatrix played the only card she had left. The knife spun from her hand, turning over and over, it seemed, in slow motion towards the prisoners. Rose prayed that it would not reach her family and their friends before they disappeared completely…

Her prayer was in vain, as the knife was sucked into oblivion with them. Bellatrix's mouth curved into a small grin.

"I think we've seen enough," the present-day Harry said, and Rose only wondered why he hadn't said that ages ago as the memory disappeared around them at long last.


	4. Chapter 4: Forgiveness and Acceptance

**Chapter 4: Forgiveness and Acceptance**

As soon as Rose felt the basement floor beneath her feet again, she collapsed in a heap of sobs. Her uncle's arms were around her the next moment.

"What…what happened to the knife?" she whimpered.

"Oh, it found a mark - unfortunately."

Rose gasped sharply. "Mum?" she cried, staring up, stricken, into Harry's face.

He shook his head. "No. Dobby."

"The house-elf _died?!_ " Harry nodded.

"He was so brave. A hero. He's buried on a dune just beyond Shell Cottage."

"W-what about the others? Auntie Luna and Mr. Ollivander-?"

"They preceded us there. Recovered there with us for a few days, then left."

"And what about _her_?" Rose snarled. "That tramp, that…that monster!"

Harry actually grinned. "Dead. Killed in the Battle of Hogwarts by none other than your Grandma Weasley."

Rose laughed through her tears until she hiccuped. "Really?"

"Uh-huh."

Rose looked up at Harry again, her face full of admiration now. "You and Daddy were so brave. You saved Mummy. You're heroes!"

Harry chuckled. "Well, I was a younger man then. And I definitely couldn't pull stunts like that today. It's funny you say that, because your mom calls Ron and I her heroes now and again in private. I think she even nicknamed your dad her 'Knight in Shining Armor.' And that's more than just a nickname, you know. It's actually an inside joke - but _that_ is another story."

The pair knelt there for a while, until Rose's sobs turned into sniffles.

"And now," Harry said as she calmed, "why don't we let the others know we're alright?"

* * *

As soon as they reached Malfoy Manor, there was a yell of "Rose!" Scorpius nearly ran her over with a bone-crushing hug. "Where were you? I've been worried sick!"

"I'll tell you later," Rose whispered to him. The pair looked back to see Harry smiling softly at them.

"Rose, go on in 'n let your parents know you're alright. I want to talk to young master Malfoy here." Rose's eyes filled with apprehension and she did not move.

"Go on, I said," Harry said, mock-sternly. Rose trudged up to the manor. Harry turned to the young blond-haired boy.

"Now, you listen to me, _Scorpius Malfoy_ ," he drawled. "If you hurt one little hair on that girl's head, you'll have more than just her mum and dad to answer to. And they'll be the least of your worries, trust me, because if I get wind that you have done _anything_ to my goddaughter, I will hunt for you, I will find you and I will kill you. Understood?"

Scorpius' face went white at the reality of being threatened by the Chosen One himself. "Yes sir," he squeaked, and ran for the manor. Harry softly laughed and followed the boy inside.

* * *

When the Boy Who Lived reached the drawing room, he found Rose and a clearly-recovered Hermione wrapped in a tight embrace.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, Mummy! I -I didn't realize that….that you…" and Rose broke off into a hysterical round of crying before she could finish.

"Oh, sweetheart," Hermione breathed soothingly and she knelt before her daughter. "Daddy and I are the ones who should be sorry. We never should have put our past feelings and experiences ahead of what makes you happy. But-" and here she sighed heavily - "now you know. Rosie, your father and I just want you to be happy, whatever you decide." She kissed Rose on the forehead, and Ron, who was smiling softly, patted her on the head. Rose turned to him.

"Rosie, I'm…" but Rose silenced him by stepping into his arms. Ron froze, startled, but eventually hugged her back as Rose streaked tears against his shirtfront.

"I'm sorry I didn't understand. But I do now. I love you," Rose said softly. Ron looked up over her head to his best friend, who was leaning against the wall.

"Do _I_ have anything to be sorry for?" Harry inquired. It was a loaded question, going beyond asking if he had been out of line to tell Rosie before her parents had the chance. Harry was also asking if it was his fault for saying Voldemort's tabooed name, which had gotten them into the mess at Malfoy Manor in the first place. He was asking if he should blame himself for Hermione's torture. Understanding all of this subtext, Ron shook his head.

"No way, man. Never." Harry smiled. Draco now approached the group from where he and his family had been standing in the corner, trying to act invisible.

"Harry…Ron…Hermione…", and from his discomfort, Rose wondered if this was the first time Scorpius' father had actually said their names. "I just want you to know that your daughter will be welcome in our house."

"And your son in ours" Ron replied automatically. Hermione turned to him, surprised at her husband's admission, before she smiled warmly and gave him a tender kiss on his cheek.

"I love you, my Knight in Shining Armor."

"I love you too, every day and every hour," Ron smiled at her.

And with that, the three families sat down for a proper meal, friends for the first time.


End file.
